This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In a navigation system for various procedures, such as surgical procedures, assembling procedures, and the like, an instrument or object may be tracked. The instrument may be tracked by one or more tracking systems of various operation modes, such as by measuring an effect of a magnetic field on a sensor coil and/or determining a location with optical sensors. The sensor coil may include a conductive material that is placed within a magnetic field where a current is induced in the sensor coil. The measured induced current may be used to identify or determine a position of the instrument or object.
The electro-magnetic field may be generated with a plurality of coils, such as three orthogonally placed coils. Various transmitter or field generation systems include the AxiEM™ electro-magnetic navigation system sold by Medtronic Navigation, Inc., having a place of business in Louisville, Colo. The AxiEM™ electro-magnetic navigation system may include a plurality of coils that are used to generate an electro-magnetic field that is sensed by a tracking device, which may be the sensor coil, to allow a navigation system, such as a StealthStation® surgical navigation system, to be used to track and/or illustrate a tracked position of an instrument.
The tracking system may also, or alternatively, include an optical tracking system. Optical tracking systems include those such as the StealthStation® S7® tracking system. The optical tracking system includes a set of cameras with a field of vision to triangulate a position of the instrument.